05 October 2023 , 02:28
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A prisoner accused of killing 22 women was stabbed to death by his cellmate, authorities have said.
Billy Chemirmir, 50, was “stabbed/beaten to death” by Wyatt Busby, 39 at a rural East Texas prison on September 19, according to a report from the Office of the Inspector General, which is investigating the killing.
Chemirmir was accused of smothering to death 22 older women in their Dallas-area homes so he could steal jewellery and other valuables. He was serving life in prison after being convicted last year in the slayings of two of the women.
A custodial death report filed with the attorney general's office last week said that Chemirmir was killed with a "knife/edged instrument." That report said that the means of death was blunt force trauma, but that the cause of death was pending.
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Billy Chemirmir lowers his mask as a state witness is asked to identify him during his murder trial (AP)Busby is serving a 50-year prison sentence after he was convicted of murder in the fatal stabbing of a man in the Houston area in 2016, according to court and prison records. Calls to attorneys who have represented Busby were not immediately returned Wednesday.
Chemirimir was killed in the Coffield Unit about two weeks after the Texas Department of Criminal Justice placed its 100 prisons on a rare statewide lockdown because of a rise in the number of killings inside the facilities. While most prisons had resumed normal operations by Wednesday, the Coffield Unit remained on lockdown.
A photo of victim Mary Brooks is displayed as part of state evidence during the murder trial of Billy Chemirmir (AP)
Billy Chemirmir lowers his mask during his trial at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas (AP)Chemirmir was arrested in 2018 after a 91-year-old woman survived an attack and told police a man had forced his way into her apartment at an independent living community for seniors, tried to smother her with a pillow and took her jewellery.
Police said they found Chemirmir the following day in the parking lot of his apartment complex holding jewellery and cash, having just thrown away a large red jewellery box. Documents in the jewellery box led them to the home of Lu Thi Harris, 81, who was dead in her bedroom.
Leah Corken was one of 22 women in the Dallas area who Billy Chemirmir was charged with killing (AP)Chemirmir was convicted of capital murder in the death of Harris and in a later trial in the killing of Mary Brooks, 87. Chemirmir, who maintained his innocence, was serving two sentences of life without the possibility of parole.
After Chemirmir’s arrest, police across the Dallas area began reexamining deaths, and the charges against him grew. He was eventually indicted on 22 capital murder charges.